Yesterday, had an Uber drop us off at Union Station and Hotel, an old railroad station.  Stunning place with stained glass ceiling panels and such ornate woodwork.  Decided to have a beer at the lobby bar.  Weren’t planning on eating there, but they had some small plates that looked too damn good.  Had a collard green and artichoke dip (with cheese and bacon) and pita chips, and avocado toast with marcona almonds, a pineapple white balsamic glaze and micro greens.  Super damn yummy.

Walked through the city.  Hotter than Hell, but a beautiful day.  Some very cool architecture in Nashville.

Ultimately walked down to the waterfront.  They had dragon boat races going on; reminded us of our dear friend Britta who paddles these beasts!

The Hermitage Hotel, commissioned by 250 Nashville residents in 1908 and named for Andrew Jackson’s estate, opened in 1910.  It’s 2 blocks from the state capital, and has some great stories relative to that, particularly with regards to the 19th amendment, which is near and dear to my heart!  Tennessee was the final state to vote to ratify the 19th amendment.  Suffragists and anti-suffragists holed up at the Hermitage during the vote.  There is a plaque outside the hotel to commemorate the suffragists.  I had a killer Old Fashioned, and Mike had a Jack Daniel’s drink from the hotel’s special barrel.  Outside the bar (which is a level below the lobby), the men’s restroom (which is on the the National Registry) is original, but for the plumbing, complete with shoeshine station.  Oh yes, I went in there.

There is a cool floating restaurant and bar across from our boat.  We walked over there last night for some live music.  Mike, trying to complete his Southern transformation, had a couple PBRs.  View of our boat is from the floating bar.

Today, we had some epic rain and thunderstorms.  Walked to the floating restaurant for brunch.  Mike had crab cakes Benedict.  (I had bacon & eggs.)  Did some boat cleaning, and Ubered to a grocery for provisioning.  While looking down at the 8 bottles of wine we were going to buy, we were advised you cannot purchase liquor from the grocery store on Sundays.  Oops.  Thankfully, there was a wine shop a few doors down.  We were going to go out for hot chicken, but the recommended place is closed on Sunday.  (What’s up with Sundays here??)  So, Mike made homemade pizza.  Chilling on FF having a glass of wine feeling super blessed to be on this trip.

Planning to head out tomorrow morning back toward Kentucky.  God bless this most wonderful country of ours.  Cheers!  M&M